Gilmore to speak about invented language
February 16, 2018
Perry Gilmore will discuss how a pair of 5-year-old boys invented their own language,
based on Swahili and understood only by the two of them. The talk is at 7 p.m. Tuesday,
March 6, in the Murie Auditorium. Gilmore’s study of her son and his friend some forty
years ago in postcolonial Kenya provides a example of children’s ability to learn
and even invent language. Her research is published in "Kisisi (Our Language): An
Accidental Study of Child Language Invention." A sociolinguist and educational anthropologist
at the University of Arizona, Gilmore is also an affiliate faculty member at the Alaska
Native Language Center and professor emerita at UAF.
Admission is free and open to the public. Copies of Gilmore’s book will be available
for purchase and signing after the talk. For more information, email ldunruh@alaska.edu. You can download a flyer to share here.